Kelly is a reclusive retired military judge and lawyer from Universal City, a San Antonio suburb. He traditionally does little more than pay his filing fee, but apparently he wins votes because he has the same name as the late movie star and dancer.

Since 1990, Kelly has run for the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, attorney general and U.S. Senate.

In 2006, he forced Barbara Ann Radnofsky into a runoff in the Democratic U.S. Senate race. She overcame with "the dancer is dead" campaign, but the fact that she was in a runoff is believed to have cost her financial support from national Democratic donors.

"If he had been forced into a runoff with a candidate who wasn't serious that would have signaled that his candidacy itself was badly flawed."

Instead, Noriega was able to spend Wednesday relishing his position at the top of the ticket, after the presidential race.

With his fortunes at least somewhat tied to the top of the ticket, Noriega said he is concerned whether the Democratic presidential nominee will actively campaign in Texas this fall or write off the Republican-leaning state.

"I have certainly put forth a challenge to the Democratic nominees in terms of Texas. While we're here fighting, you don't leave folks ... you don't leave your buddy in the foxhole," said Noriega, a Texas Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who served in Afghanistan and along the Texas-Mexico border.

Cornyn wasn't available for an interview, but his campaign issued a statement congratulating Noriega and looking forward to an "open, honest, substantive debate."

Cornyn has $7.6 million in his campaign warchest. Noriega, who said he doesn't know how much is left from the $1 million he raised for the primary, said he would need to raise at least $5 million to compete this fall.

While the battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton displayed the potential for tensions between blacks and Hispanics, Noriega will need both groups to put together a winning coalition, Jillson said.